


We Will Be Completed Right Before Your Eyes

by Fudgyokra



Series: Poly Titans [4]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Both literally and figuratively, Demons, Drama & Romance, Father-Daughter Relationship, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Garfield grapples with fear of being judged, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Internal Conflict, Internalized Homophobia, It's a Bad One to say the least, Other, Polyamory, Self-Acceptance, mildly angsty, or getting to it anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 15:50:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12436152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fudgyokra/pseuds/Fudgyokra
Summary: Dealing with one’s own metaphorical demons was hard enough without there being literal ones along for the ride.





	We Will Be Completed Right Before Your Eyes

Victor knew that everyone had an internal battle to fight, but Garfield’s unwillingness to tell Dick and Kori the truth about their relationship was beginning to get on his nerves. Perhaps that was _his_ personal demon: Impatience mixed with a volatile short temper. In that way, he wasn’t unlike Dick, whose personal struggles always either wound up in self-imposed perdition or in a yelling match with Victor, the only one brave enough to challenge his might more than once in a blue moon.

The fact that they fought so much meant that they spent a lot more time making up, though. He wished Garfield would believe him when he said he knew Dick would be fine with it. Kori was accepting of all types of creatures, he’d argued, so she was less of a worry, which Garfield admitted was true. But if Dick didn’t like it, then that could spell trouble for the Titans as a whole, couldn’t it?

They hadn’t spoken at all today. Garfield was holed up in Rachel’s room with her, probably to complain about Victor behind his back. He’d be the first to admit that he sometimes wondered if they were right for each other, but it always came down to how he knew they all felt, no matter how annoying they could be to one another.

When he spotted Garfield in the hall, he made a beeline for him; if he could only snatch a few precious seconds, this stupid argument could be over and everything would be back to normal.

“Rae’s dad is coming to visit,” Garfield said, all at once like a dying confession. He looked withered, and the lack of enthusiasm in his voice, coupled with the suddenness of the declaration, made Victor feel like he’d been slapped.

“You mean Trigon?” He didn’t have to ask, but it seemed unreal that the demon would show his face around the tower, knowing how they all loathed him. They’d settled this, hadn’t they? Trigon had agreed to keep his issues with his daughter separate from the other Titans (despite how much Dick protested), and that was the end of that. It was becoming evident that this was a lie.

“Yeah,” Garfield said, nodding dumbly without anything else to add.

“Let me talk to her,” Victor offered, all the fire in him extinguished and replaced with a sense of dread. How caught up he’d been in the little things, when Rachel was dealing with something so heavy.

“I dunno, dude, she’s in a pretty bad mood.”

“She’s always in a bad mood.” Victor smiled and, with some hesitance, Garfield smiled back.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to give it a try. She hasn’t punched me yet, so I guess there’s still hope.”

Victor ruffled the boy’s hair, ignored his annoyed swatting, and pushed the door to Rachel’s room ajar.

As usual, everything inside was dark, and the girl sat cross-legged on the floor with her spell book open in front of her. Victor pinched out one of the surrounding candle flames, and immediately dark eyes were on him, pupils small, irises fiery. “I don’t want your pity,” she said.

“I’m not here to pity you.” Victor sat beside her, laid one palm flat against the floor behind her back. Garfield trudged in after, sprawling across both of their laps with his head in Rachel’s.

The familiarity didn’t seem to comfort her this time. She sighed, reached forward to close her book, and put a delicate hand on Garfield’s cheek. Instinctively, he reached up to cover hers with his own. When neither of them spoke, Victor knew that was his cue

“So, when’s the party?” he asked, eyes narrowing at the very thought of Trigon being in proximity. Having the ability to hurt them, take Rachel from them.

“Right now,” she answered.

Victor didn’t like the sound of that.

Garfield shot to his feet at the crack of thunder that arose. Suddenly, the world outside their window was dark with storm clouds, which eclipsed the previously sunny day, and not a second later, there was a knock at the front door.

The boys sprinted out to the living room together, and by then Dick was already on guard with Kori floating beside him. “What’s going on?” the former asked. “There are no alerts on the monitor, so I take it this is personal.”

“Something like that,” Victor answered.

“It’s Raven’s dad,” Garfield said, looking miserable.

Dick’s mask rose with the movement of his brows. “Raven’s…dad?”

Kori lowered herself to the ground and mirrored his confusion. “Why would he be here?” she asked. “He is not intending to do her harm, is he?”

“I don’t think so,” Victor said, “but it never hurts to be careful.”

“Right,” Dick agreed. He’d barely taken a step forward before the door flew open, eliminating his need to open it and stopping him right in his tracks, both physically and mentally. “Err…hello?”

Trigon, in what they supposed was his manner of civility, glared but said nothing.

“I’ll handle it,” Rachel’s voice came from the entrance to the hall behind them, and the shock of it swallowed up every other sound in the tower, making it eerie and tense. “We’re taking this outside.”

The group watched them leave as if spellbound, and it took them a while to realize that they were all standing transfixed out of choice. Dick moved first, as he tended to do. He peered up at Victor for an explanation and, when he only received a shrug, cast a curious eye at Garfield. “You wouldn’t happen to know about any of this, would you, Beast Boy?”

Victor could see him crumbling. Feel it, even. It was all in the way his eyes grew sad with the weight of something secretive pressing in on him that told everyone the answer long before he made his lips move. “I might have made him mad…or something.”

“Beast Boy,” Kori said, extending a hand toward him. Though the gesture was sweet, they all knew it meant business, expected the truth. “What have you done to anger him?”

“It’s—it’s personal, okay?” Garfield frowned. “I’ll go out there and—”

“No,” Victor interrupted, putting a meaningful hand on his shoulder. “ _We_ go.”

“I agree,” Dick said animatedly, already mapping out a plan of action when Victor held a hand up, palm facing toward him.

“Not you,” he clarified. “And not Kori. Us, as in me and BB.”

Dick looked briefly crestfallen. “What? Why not?”

Garfield looked at Victor with panic in his eyes, and the latter sighed through his nose. “It’s personal,” he said, echoing the other boy’s earlier sentiment. With that, he turned toward the door and grabbed Garfield by the wrist. “Come on,” he said, not that the other had much of a choice. “You have a little bit of explaining to do.”

The moment the door closed behind them, Garfield was a tangle of words and emotion. “I didn’t know there were times when his bond was stronger to her than usual, Cy. He saw me, saw _us_. Or felt us, or however the hell it works, but he _did_ and I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

“What were you doing?” Victor asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“I was just—I didn’t think—She said it was—”

“Daddy caught you foolin’ around, is what you’re trying to tell me.”

Garfield bit his lip. “Maybe really close to…more than fooling around.”

“Right.” Victor pressed a palm to his forehead and heaved another sigh. “So, now we gotta deal with Mister Fire-and-Brimstone on our asses because you couldn’t keep it in your pants.”

“Yeah,” Garfield said, succinct and defeated. “Sounds about right.”

They got down to the base of the dunes and found Rachel and Trigon engaged in hushed conversation. There was no yelling, no fighting, but Victor wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. When they approached, though, the fuse was lit.

“You throw my offers away for this?” Trigon roared. “For these mortals and their lascivious hands? You could be better, daughter. We would have so much power. Don’t you understand what you are risking? A mortal life with this boy…” He cast glowing eyes on Garfield, turned slowly toward him, and sneered. “What will he give you but pain?”

“Hate to break it to you, buddy,” Victor started with a curl of his lip, “but that’s none of your damn business.”

“Cyborg,” Rachel said, shooting him a serious look, “leave it alone. Father, this isn’t about me and them—”

“ _Them?_ ” Trigon echoed. His voice hit a low note that spelled trouble. Victor took a step back and extended his arm protectively in front of Garfield. “Your sins of the flesh extend beyond the little green one? What have I made you, daughter?”

Rachel clenched her fists. “You have made me _nothing_ ,” she spat.

“Rejection again, as I feared.” Trigon’s voice had become a disturbingly normal rumble, with no anger to be found. “This might very well be my last offer, Raven. Choosing this path will drain your powers, drain your energy, and ruin your connection to the Underworld until you are hardly a shell of what you were destined to be.”

“I’m never going to be like you.”

“One day you’ll understand the gifts I’ve bestowed on you, and you will remember this moment when you struck me down. You think this battle is over, Raven, but it is far from it.”

Rachel’s absence of a response was one in and of itself.

When Trigon promised something, he meant it, and today that promise was to come back. They didn’t know when, or how it would happen, but for now he descended into the earth, calling rivulets of lava and a bright flash of light to seal him away.

The clouds parted to reveal the sun, and Rachel collapsed to her knees with her face in her hands. Victor and Garfield sat across from her. They waded through the heavy silence for what felt like an eternity, until, finally, the girl took one of Victor’s hands in hers, and then Garfield’s in the other. “Listen,” she said, “whatever happens, I want you guys to know that we’re in this together. My father might blame you, tell you things you fear hearing, all to get you to crack… Don’t fall for it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Victor answered, offering her a smile.

Garfield was still pondering something, at least until he noticed the kiss they shared from his peripheral vision. Things seemed to make a little more sense, if only for a second. “I’m sorry, Cy,” he said, finally.

Victor furrowed his brows. “What for?”

“For what we were doing?” Rachel asked, equally as confused.

“Oh, man, you don’t gotta apologize for that.”

Garfield shook his head. “For being weird about telling Robin and Starfire. I know Trigon’s all about preying on bad vibes or whatever, and I guess when Rae and I… I guess her connection with Trigon included me, somehow, and whatever he saw in me wasn’t pretty.”

“You’re saying you attracted a literal demon with your metaphorical ones?” Victor asked, grinning at how ridiculous it sounded aloud. “Only you, B.”

Garfield laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. The sound washed over them in a much-needed wave of relief. “I can’t believe it!” he exclaimed, seconds before situating himself in Victor’s lap and kissing his cheek with an audible _smack._ “This whole time I’m freaking out about stuff like this when Rae’s got an actual demon snooping around.”

“Ha, ha,” Rachel deadpanned. Still, she shuffled on her knees behind Garfield to hug him, effectively squashing him between she and Victor. “You’re such an idiot,” she said fondly.

“I guess what I mean is that I’m sorry for thinking the world revolves around me.”

Victor patted his head. “You were afraid. I can’t blame you for that.”

“It wasn’t all your fault,” Rachel admitted. “I might have been a little hung up about some things, too.”

“I think we all were,” Victor said.

Garfield hummed. “If it makes you feel any better, at least _your_ inner demons didn’t almost get us all killed.”

“Always looking on the bright side,” Victor said with a snort. “Very kind of you, BB.”

“Another thing to make you feel better would be to tell you that I’m not afraid anymore. Of telling them, I mean. Of telling anybody, actually. If the scariest dude in the universe knows about it, who the hell can scare me now?”

At that, Victor laughed. “Oh, man, you are so right about that.”


End file.
